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This paper focuses on educators’ use of a simulated teaching environment and its relationship to changes in indices associated with equitable teaching practices. Pre-post survey data were gathered from 39 educators who spent an average of 4 hours and 45 minutes completing 17 sessions in four modules in an online simulated teaching program. Participants were provided with feedback following each session with the intention of improving their performance in subsequent sessions. Results indicated that there were significant and educationally meaningful positive changes in measured indices related to equitable teaching practices following online simulated teaching experiences. 

Thirty-four students from a career and technical education high school course focusing on teacher education participated in simulation-based teaching exercises within simSchool. Pre and post Likert-style self-reported appraisals on seven scales in the areas of culturally responsive teaching, empathy and technology attitudes are being gathered from all participants. Preliminary findings revealed that a surprisingly strong relationship exists between culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and cognitive empathy, to the point where empathy can be said to account for more than half of culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. In addition, females were found to be higher on empathy than males. 

Thirty-four students from a career and technical education high school course focusing on teacher education participated in simulation-based teaching exercises within simSchool. Pre and post Likert-style self-reported appraisals on seven scales in the areas of culturally responsive teaching, empathy and technology attitudes are being gathered from all participants. Preliminary findings revealed that a surprisingly strong relationship exists between culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and cognitive empathy, to the point where empathy can be said to account for more than half of culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. In addition, females were found to be higher on empathy than males. 

Fifty-five (55) K-12 teachers in two US states completed five repetitions of a 15-minute simulated teaching lesson in which six of their 12 simulated students in a class were labeled as having special learning needs while the other six were not labeled. Analysis of three measures of differential focus in instructional attention revealed that educators teaching within the simulator tended to increase attention (p < .05) in the areas where they perceived the greatest needs. That is, they tended to focus increased guidance toward the simulated students that were labeled as having special learning needs. Findings provide credible evidence of the fidelity of the simulated teaching environment as perceived by actual teachers, in that teachers focused actions in the simulator comparable to the manner in which teachers commonly focus guidance in real classrooms, targeting extra assistance where they perceive it is needed. This finding has reconfirmed preliminary indications from a smaller participant pool (n = 40) studied in a previous year and has expanded confirmation of the effect to additional types of special learning needs labels in addition to English Language Learner (ELL). 

Fifty-five (55) K-12 teachers in two US states completed five repetitions of a 15-minute simulated teaching lesson in which six of their 12 simulated students in a class were labeled as having special learning needs while the other six were not labeled. Analysis of three measures of differential focus in instructional attention revealed that educators teaching within the simulator tended to increase attention (p < .05) in the areas where they perceived the greatest needs. That is, they tended to focus increased guidance toward the simulated students that were labeled as having special learning needs. Findings provide credible evidence of the fidelity of the simulated teaching environment as perceived by actual teachers, in that teachers focused actions in the simulator comparable to the manner in which teachers commonly focus guidance in real classrooms, targeting extra assistance where they perceive it is needed. This finding has reconfirmed preliminary indications from a smaller participant pool (n = 40) studied in a previous year and has expanded confirmation of the effect to additional types of special learning needs labels in addition to English Language Learner (ELL). 

This presentation shares the ongoing work of the Advancing Culturally-Relevant Computing Project, a researcher-practitioner partnership situated in the diverse multicultural context of Hawai'i. Focused on the topic of culturally-relevant computing, the project aims to better understand how to prepare elementary teachers to integrate Computer Science into their classrooms in ways that are effective, efficient, and meaningful. The presentation introduces culturally-relevant computing, showcases examples of culturally-relevant computing lessons, and shares highlights from a three-day professional development workshop for elementary teachers. 

Improving teaching strategies through a simulated teaching environment has been shown to improve teacher self-efficacy, teaching skills, classroom management and multicultural awareness. The current study is using the simulation program simSchool to help educators recognize possible implicit bias with the goal of recognizing, reflecting and reducing any biases that may exist. Framing effect bias was used to detect possible bias due to expectations for students who were differing in gender and English language learner status, but underlying characteristic and capabilities were the same. Simulation-captured data are used to understand the changes that occur as educators have the opportunity over multiple sessions to adjust their teaching strategies based on objective performance and feedback data provided by the system. 

This presentation reports a mixed-methods study examining how in- service Computer Science (CS) teachers working in Hawai'i perceive the concept of culturally-relevant computing. Data for the study came from a survey sent to CS teachers (n = 19) and focus group interviews with a subset of respondents (n = 10). Analysis of the data revealed a snapshot of teachers’ beliefs about culturally-relevant computing, as well as their current practices related to culturally-relevant pedagogy in the domain of CS. Detailed findings will be presented along with a discussion of the considerations and challenges in-service teachers face when planning and implementing culturally-relevant CS lessons.